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P a s s i o n
PRESS RELEASE
                         
 


In a quiet Kent country church something extraordinary is happening. This is not an everyday tale of country folk; the painting that will be on show during Lent, in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, in Shoreham, is so radical, that the exhibition will be dismantled and re-hung five times in order to avoid offending the congregation on Sundays.

Susan Haire, the exhibiting artist, encouraged and supported by the vicar the Rev Richard Freeman (who initiated the exhibition), has produced a startling series of paintings, which evoke the pain and the passion of the human and the divine experience.

Susan paints using a random and chance dependent method, in rich blood reds, pinks and crimsons. This is followed by a careful process of working with a medicine dropper, drying and wiping, to create delicate films of white watercolour; through which, the abyss of scarlet is viewed. The work is minimal and striking. Seen en mass, the images form an assembly of ghostly figures, which twist and contort their way through the series.

Although the work is based around notions concerning Christ’s Passion, the idea originated in the Stations of the Cross with the symbolism of the journey through which Christ was brought to the crucifixion and resurrection. For Susan, the series of paintings in Passion are also symbolic of the journey we make as individuals, towards understanding and self-fulfillment and the promise and hope of transcending our current situation. Susan draws comparisons between this and her own journey in the often precarious development of the work, as the series extends and evolves towards its completion.
The series and the triptychs invoke the cycle of growth, death and rebirth; yet there is also the rejection, by Susan, of thoughts that her painting constitutes Christian art; and this when everything about the work screams out the image of Christ writhing on the cross. Yet this apparent paradox is understandable. The cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth is an enduring myth; it is one of the primary means by which we make sense of, and structure our thoughts on, our own existence. It is a theme everyone, from the Greeks with Persephone, to Disney with The Lion King, has been seeking to explore. The Christian Church has been grappling with the idea for two thousand years and now, Passion unravels the mystery just a little further.

The exhibition will be complemented by a series of collaborative events (ten in all) including meditations, lectures and discussions, poetry and music, including Bach’s St John Passion directed by Andrew Reid sub-organist at Westminster Abbey, and Handel’s Messiah directed by Cambridge undergraduate, Geoffrey Paterson - in concerts a week either side of Easter. The intention is that the music and discussion offer a different way of experiencing the paintings and that together they should shake us, says the artist, out of our commonplace understanding. The whole event is a journey in itself which can take us to another level, broadening our conceptual understanding, creating a glimpse into as yet unreached ways in which we might pattern our thoughts and consider our lives… “creating a feeling, we should want to hold onto.”
         
Danielle Blyfield 2004
danielle.blyfield@btopenworld.com
 
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